The saga continues. On Saturday the Russians sought additional protection from U.S. law for the transfer of tainted North Korean funds:

The Russian central bank has not transferred about $23 million in previously frozen North Korean funds to a Russian commercial bank, yet another delay holding up a nuclear deal with Pyongyang. . . the money was held at the Russian central bank as Russian officials sought revised assurances that Treasury would not take regulatory action against the Russian bank, sources said last night. Treasury officials thought those assurances had been provided, but Russia wanted those assurances in a different form. The transfer is now expected to take place Monday. Until the transfer is made to the Russian commercial bank, where North Korea holds an account, Pyongyang will not have possession of the funds. (emphasis added)

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), however, reports that North Korean officials have initiated an invitation to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to monitor the shutdown of the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon:

State media said the invitation came as a row over money belonging to North Korea which had been frozen in a Macau bank “has reached its final phase”. Earlier, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said the $24m (£12.1m) transfer had been delayed by technical problems in Russian banks.

[. . .]

After Mr Hill’s announcement, a statement on North Korean news agency, KCNA, said the country’s atomic energy chief, Ri Je-son, had written a letter to the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohammed ElBaradei, inviting UN inspectors.

“He in the letter noted that a working-level delegation of the IAEA has been invited to visit the DPRK [North Korea] as it is confirmed that the process of de-freezing the funds of the DPRK at the Banco Delta Asia in Macau has reached its final phase,” the agency said.

The UN inspectors were to visit for “discussions of the procedures of the IAEA’s verification and monitoring of” shutting down the Yongbyon reactor, KCNA said.